How to Make a Surgeon Accountable for Medical Negligence

Every year almost 22,300 people die in the UK due to the medical malpractice. The prime reason for medical errors is the faulty systems, conditions as well as processes which lead the medical staff to make mistakes or unable to prevent the mistakes (independent.co.uk, 2017).

However medical negligence can be described as the misconduct by a medical practitioner or specialist by not providing the sufficient care to the patient and hurting the patient.

Surgeons have considered the specialist and expert in their field and any negligence from them is not tolerable. There is a litigation organization of NHS which deals with all the type of claims which are made against it. Under these laws, the patients can complain about the different problems which they had to face during their course of treatment. Most of these laws comprise of negligence, medical malpractice and confidentiality of the patients.

The negligence of the surgeon can be of a varying type from incorrect blood groups transfusion, unsuccessful sterilization of surgical equipment to leaving a mop in the abdomen of the patient. The doctor can also accidentally cut the internal organ or foreign fluids like urine, faeces and bile can lead to the severe infection in the body of the patient. The surgeon can also operate on the wrong area. The patient can also complain if the surgeon has left the foreign object in their body during the operation. Sometimes the cosmetic surgery cause scarring as well as disfigurement results for the customers which are also due to the negligence.

Poor hygiene of the surgeon can lead to the infection of the patient. In all these cases the patients can claim a compensation from their doctor. The patients who have to suffer the damage they can claim the compensation by reporting to the NHS litigation organization. Although the best services are provided by surgeons – complaints held against them is only 0.005% – the amount of compensation can vary depending on the damage.

Although the complaints in the year 2016-17 were few the organization had to pay £1.6 billion (claims.co.uk, 2018). The legal cost of the patient is also paid for by the organization. The £500 million is reserved for the legal costs which the patients have to bear. The compensation can be of two different type from general to special. In case of general nature and severity of the injury is measured and then according to that compensation is given. While in the special case the organization also pays the medical bills and all the other expenses which the patient had to bear.

It is also crucial for the patients to prove the surgical error before getting the compensation. The time period for the claim is 3 years. the time starts when the patient first time noticed the injury signs on their body. Even if the results of damage show after some time of original surgery the time will start from the results day not surgery day.